Cat and Princess
by BreadLoaf
Summary: My first fanfic yet. Odd and Aelita begin to get strong feelings for one another but have to keep it private. As they get closer, Jeremie gets more suspicious. An AU based in the second series of the show. Parings OxA and UxY.
1. Prologue

**OK guys, this is the first chapter of my first ever fanfic. I hope you enjoy this little OxA and mild UxY in this story. I picked OxA because they are the best of the Lyoko Warrior couples. I don't know why. I just think that Jeremie and Aelita would never work out in the end. Oh, and I do nto own Code Lyoko or any of the characters apart from the potential OC's that may be in it. That goes to MoonScoop, who made my childhood.**

**Cat and Princess**

Prologue

JPOV

"Diary of Jeremie Belpois, September 9th." "I have finally done it; I have freed Aelita from the super computer, but at a price. XANA has latched himself onto Aelita via a virus, meaning that we cannot destroy XANA without destroying Aelita as well."

"I hope to find the antivirus to XANA's latching virus soon. I will do anything to be with Aelita. I hope that Aelita knows that I... I love her."

3 weeks later...

APOV

My time on Earth has been the greatest; taking in all the new things like smelling, hearing and breathing. I love breathing most of all.

Knowing what life is like with my friends outside Lyoko has to top it all though. Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi are the greatest friends I could ever possibly imagine. I love to explore what is new and what is to come.

But, I wish Jeremie was with me too. Since we have identified that it is virus keeping me bound to Lyoko and XANA Jeremie has spent day and night either in his room or at the factory. When he does come out, though, he only talks about the antivirus as well. I am wondering Jeremie is my greatest friend at all.

OPOV

Since Aelita has came to Earth me, Yumi and Ulrich have been showing Aelita what the world has to offer.

Einstein is being an Einstein though. Just working in his room and not getting any sleep or food into him. It's silly that he materialized Aelita but he spends no time with her. I bet he kisses his computer at night.

Funny thing is though, whenever he hears rumours of a boy having feelings for her. He starts getting angry at Aelita and telling her to stay away from him, whoever he is. It's stupid really.

I really like Aelita, she is really funny and knows how to tell Sissy a thing or too when she comes crying for her "Ulrich, dear?!"

I know that Aelita is Einstein's and everything, but honestly, if he doesn't come out of his cave soon, he is going to have a lot of competition on his hands.

**I hoped you liked it so flick me a quick review. Tell me suggestion for what I should put later on in the series. Btw, I am putting the rating for this fanfic as T, because I plan for the Lyoko Warriors to get a bit more intimate later in the story :P By the way, for the chapter count, I have no god damn clue.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Ok, Chapter one begins. I do not own Code Lyoko or any of the characters here. That goes to Moonscoop. Any OC's I may make **_**are **_**mine though.**

**Cat and Princess**

Chapter 1: House in the woods

The sun was shining brightly down on Kadic, for an autumn day, it was hot. No-one could stay inside, and as it was a Sunday, there were no classes to worry about either.

APOV

I was looking around for Jeremie when I spotted Odd and Ulrich, I decided to wander over to them and say hi.

"Hey guys!" I said as I reached the duo.

"What's up princess?" asked Odd.

"Well, I was looking for Jeremie, have you seen him?" I replied in a casual tone.

"No sign of him, Einstein is probably in his room." Ulrich said, then added "...but not on his computer of course."

"No, I checked there, no show."

"Really! Einstein, not in his room, it's a MIRACLE!" Odd shouted.

I laughed and then went onto saying "Well, it's not that important anyway. So, is Yumi not here today?"

"Nah, she is at her house with her parents." Ulrich said, soundly slightly crestfallen.

"OoooOOOOoo, Ulrich's in love, Ulrich's in love" Odd sung, picking up on Ulrich's tone, "Ulrich's in love with Yuuuuumi!"

"Say one more word about me and Yumi and you'll... you'll regret it." Ulrich stammered, quaking with anger.

I laughed and gave Odd a big smile, he winked back at me. "So, princess, have you made any more work on your antivirus?" Odd inquired, still slightly giggling.

"No, but Jeremie has been getting really frustrated about it." I replied.

"Ah well, leave him, anyway, what about the Hermitage, any more crazy flashbacks?"

"No, but I want to go there again, I swear I've been there before. Can one of you guys take me?"

"Whoa, remember last time we went, XANA tried to kill us." Ulrich cut in.

"I know, but if XANA does attack, we have our cell phones on us and we could call Jeremie straight away." I responded, hoping this would convince Ulrich.

"Well, I can't go. I've got homework to do. But Odd will take you." Ulrich said.

"Really Odd, can you come with me?" I asked, putting on a pleading face as I said it.

"Your wish is my command princess, let us go." Odd said, with his usual gusto.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I hugged Odd and smiled at him. Then I looked at Ulrich and said "If we are not back in an hour, raise a warning. Ok?"

"Ok, Aelita, have fun now you two."

OPOV

When we got to the Hermitage Aelita went running straight in without a second thought. I smiled. Aelita was always so energetic and adventurous. I quickly thought of Aelita and I running through dangerous swamps, battling our way through giant mosquitoes. Then I got the better of myself, "Aelita belongs to Jeremie." I thought to myself angrily; "You shouldn't think of things like that."

Throwing these thoughts aside, I followed Aelita into the Hermitage, and found her looking through a bookshelf full of science and history novels and pamphlets. She turned to look at me and smiled.

"Look what I've found." She said to me, holding up a dusty pamphlet.

"What is it?" I asked, wondering whether the paper held secret bits of information about Lyoko.

"It's a pamphlet for a fun park called Rock Bottom. It's full of pictures on aquatic se..." Aelita stopped, and then collapsed to the ground crying out.

"AELITA!" I yelled, running over to where she lay on the floor, "Aelita, are you all right?"

Aelita kept yelling for a few seconds then went quiet. She sat up and began to cry. I sat down next to her, holding her tight in my arms. "Aelita, what happened?" I questioned, worried.

"Well..." She sobbed "I had a flashback of going to the aquatic park... and I saw the same man who I've been seeing on all of my flashbacks."

"You had a flashback. Do you remember anything new?" I asked; try to sound as sensitive as possible.

"No, but I... I..." She then went onto collapsing into my arms, and started to cry again.

"Sssshhhh" I comforted her. "You'll be alright, princess. Do you want to head back to school?"

"Yes." She murmured. "By the way, I always love how you call me princess." She tearfully giggled.

A rush of blood flew to my face, and I realised I was blushing. It went away and I helped Aelita up, saying "Anything to help out a damsel in distress."

I laughed and Aelita did too. Aelita had the best laugh I had ever heard of. Better than any of my other friends, or even girlfriends. I cursed myself for thinking girlfriends, why did I think girlfriends. Aelita was a good friend. That's all.

"Let's go, noble knight." She said, still playing along to the medieval theme.

She had stopped crying now. Her green eyes met mine. We both smiled and headed back to Kadic Junior High.

**OK, so there's the end of chapter one. I hope you enjoyed it; I'll get another one out later this week. Leave me a review, and give me suggestions. - BreadLoaf**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey, guys! Thanks for the cool reviews from the last chapter. On with the story.**

**Cat and Princess**

Chapter 2: Blushing

_On Lyoko's mountain sector..._

OPOV

"Ok guys, any problems with the virtualization?" Jeremie said through the microphone.

"No, we're all good here Jeremie." said Yumi.

"Ok, then, tower coordinates 30N. Be careful guys, we still don't know what XANA has done yet." Jeremie warned.

"Don't sweat it, Jeremie." I said.

"I'll bring up your vehicles."

As the overboard appeared in front of me, I turned to Aelita and asked "Care for an escort, milady?"

"It's my pleasure." the pinkette replied.

I hopped on the overboard as Aelita walked on behind me and held my waist for balance. We flew off to the activated tower while Ulrich rode on the ground. When Yumi, Ulrich and I got in sight of the tower, Jeremie's voice came on saying "Monster alert guys, two Tarantulas and a Megatank are waiting for you."

No sooner as he had said it a laser came out of nowhere and devirtualized Ulrich's overbike. Ulrich skidded ten metres before landing at the base of a rock. "Damn tarantulas." I heard him say, before another laser hit and devirtualized him.

"Ulrich!" Yumi yelled, but it was too late.

I saw the tarantulas waiting at the bottom of the tower for us so I dropped Aelita off behind a small cliff and flew in, shooting arrows all the while. One hit a tarantula, and it exploded.

"Nice shot, Odd." Jeremie said.

The Megatank turned, charged up its energy wave and tried to shoot at me. I managed to dodge but it hit my board and I tumbled back down to ground. At this point Yumi threw her fan at the Megatank, but missed. Fortunately, the fan came back and killed the other surviving Tarantula.

Jeremie's voice came back on, "Guys, I found out what XANA was doing, he is knocking everyone out with sound waves. If this continues on, thousands of people will be dead! Hurry up!"

"I'm getting there, Einstein, calm down!" I replied back, turning around to face Aelita. She was still at the cliff, safe and sound. She smiled at me and started to sing. The ground under the Megatank vanished and the Megatank in question fell into the digital sea, sending up its beam of temporal energy.

"Smart thinking, Aelita." I grinned at her. "Now go deactivate that tower."

Aelita ran into the tower. A minute later the smoke circling around it turned to a light blue.

"Nice one guys, excellent work." Jeremie congratulated them, "Unfortunately, since the sound waves wrecked the elevator and everyone's out cold at Kadic, I have no choice but to launch a return to the past. I'll materialize Aelita first though."

"_Return to the past, now!"_

UPOV

The clouds were gently drifting across the overcast sky, marking the signs that winter was on the way. Aelita, Odd and Jeremie were in Jeremie's room, while Yumi was in the library studying. I decided to go visit Yumi and see how she was going. When I entered the library, thunder cracked behind me as I saw a flash before the rain started to fall.

"Phew, close call to getting soaked." I said to myself.

I saw Yumi in the corner of the library where the heaters were on. "Hey, Yumi." I said loudly across the room to her. I heard an angry ssshh from the librarian and apologized. Yumi looked up at me and waved. I walked towards her, smiling all the way.

"How ya going, Yumi?" I asked in a quieter tone.

"Hey Ulrich, I'm good, you?" she replied.

"I'm good too. What test you studying for?"

"I'm not studying for a test. I'm revising in case Mrs Hertz launches a surprise quiz on us."

"Ok, well, I just came here to say hi and see how you're doing, but since it is raining I'll have to stay here for a while."

"Can you test me, just a few questions will do."

I agreed and sat down next to her. While quizzing her on chemistry, I wondered if she knew how much I liked her. I thought of whether I should ask her out on a date or not, but thought better of it. Maybe one day though, I would.

APOV

I was sitting in Jeremie's room, helping him on the antivirus seeing as I had nothing else to do. Odd was throwing a ball up and down while asking us random questions. Jeremie was sitting at his computer, munching into a bag of marshmallows.

"Would you prefer to have a cat or a dog?" Odd asked, this being his thirteenth question, but only I was keeping count.

Jeremie swung around on his chair and asked Odd "Would you prefer to keep annoying me, or can I keep working in a quiet environment?"

I looked up at this and told Jeremie "He's bored and it's raining, cut him some slack."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, sorry I snapped at you Odd."

"It's ok, actually, speaking of dogs, I need to feed Kiwi, and so I'll leave you two in peace." Odd said, standing up.

"I'll come with you." I quickly stated, standing up as well.

"But, Aelita..." Jeremie cried "What about your antivirus?"

"I'm only sitting here watching you." I replied, and then added "If you need me, I'll come straight away."

"Oh, alright."

The rain was pattering on the windows as we entered Odd's room.

"Ugh, I hate the rain." Odd complained.

Kiwi started leaping up at us. I laughed at the dog's enthusiasm to see his owner.

"You know..." I giggled, "If you didn't feed Kiwi, he would probably smash the door down looking for Rosa's meatballs."

Odd laughed at this and gave Kiwi his lunch. "You're right Aelita, he would." He replied, still smiling.

I looked at his bed and saw a CD sitting on it; I picked it up and saw it was labelled ROCK STAR.

"What's this?" I questioned him.

"It's a new short movie I've been working on, but it's only halfway done." He casually responded.

"What's it about?"

"It's about a guy who is destined to be a rock star, but his family doesn't let him."

"Ok, sounds cool. So now that Kiwi is fed, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know, but it is freezing in here and I don't feel like going back to Jeremie's room."

"You can sit next to me if you like, scrawny." I laughed.

"I am not _scrawny!_" He half yelled. Then he burst out laughing too, and sat down next to me.

"You're really funny Aelita." He said.

"I'm nothing compared to you when it comes to jokes." I replied truthfully.

He smiled. I wish I knew what he was thinking, I thought. What goes on in the mind of Odd Della Robbia, actually, that could be Milly and Tamiya's scoop of the year: The thoughts of Odd Della Robbia!

"You're a really good friend, Aelita." He murmured, bringing me out of my daydream. Suddenly, I felt my face warm up.

"Aelita, you're blushing." He told me.

"What's blushing?" I replied, curious.

"Well, blushing is where you feel slightly embarrassed of affectionate over someone or something. It happens quite a lot to Yumi and Ulrich when you talk about their love affair."

I laughed. Odd truly was the funniest person I could ever meet, he was adventurous and kind and caring. He would never let anything happen to his friends or family. My best friend, Odd Della Robbia. I didn't want to be just friends...

**Ok, that's the end of the second chapter. Please review, thanks. - BreadLoaf**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter three must commence. I don't own Code Lyoko or any of the characters, MoonScoop does.**

**Cat and Princess**

Chapter 3: Tension

JPOV

"Ok, attempt number eighteen. Please work this time." I said to my computer.

_Beep, beep, beep, beep. ERROR! _My computer had begun to compile Aelita's antivirus when it encountered a vanishing bug. In theory, Aelita would vanish when you tried to run the program on her.

"DAMMIT!" I yelled. "I JUST CAN'T DO IT." I stood up and kicked my desk. It hurt a lot seeing as I was barefoot and I grabbed my toe, wincing. Once the pain subsided, I decided to put on some shoes and leave my dorm for lunch. I'll leave the antivirus alone for a few days and come back to it later, I thought to myself.

When I entered the cafeteria I spotted Odd and Ulrich sitting at our regular table and, after serving myself, joined them. Odd was silent because he was stuffing his face with food.

"Hello, Einstein." Ulrich greeted me.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I questioned.

"Nothing much really, how are you?" Ulrich said, then lowered his voice and added "How is the antivirus going?"

"Well..." I replied, before losing it: "_I just can't do it; no matter how hard I try and try again I still can't do it."_

"Calm down, Jeremie." Ulrich and Odd said in an uncanny unison.

"Calm down? _Calm down?! _Do you know how much this means if I can make the antivirus. It means Aelita is free from XANA. It means goodbye to XANA for good!"

"We know what it means Jeremie, but you can't flip out just because you can't make an antivirus. Remember, XANA is a highly powerful program and you're a _thirteen year old. _So calm down!" Odd said exasperatedly. "We're all great friends with Aelita and she will understand if we can't free her sooner than we thought."

"Wow, now I do feel like a thirteen year old; whining about things like that. I just really want Aelita to have a full, free life." Feeling as though I was a complete idiot, I went deathly silent and returned to my lunch.

A thought suddenly occurred to me, didn't Odd slightly blush when he mentioned "great friends with Aelita." Something clicked in my mind, and I looked up at Odd, who had resumed eating his croissant.

"Hey Odd, what do you mean by great friends with Aelita. Is there something else you want to tell me?" I accused Odd.

"Well, isn't it obvious what great friends mean? Obviously it means we are really good friends." He looked up as well. I could tell by the way he wasn't looking directly at me that he wasn't telling the complete truth. But what did this mean?

OPOV

After telling Jeremie to calm himself over Aelita's antivirus and finishing my fourth portion of lunch, Ulrich and I went to go get changed for PE while Einstein bolted off back to his room. While getting changed, I questioned myself on how much Jeremie knew about Aelita and myself being a sort of "thing". How much did Ulrich and Yumi know either, they probably didn't know anything, or, at the very least, only thought it was a close friendship. Jim walked into the changing rooms telling us to "fasten your pace" so I finished changing and jogged into the Gymnasium. Aelita was already there as well as all the other girls in the class. I sat down next to Aelita and Ulrich joined me shortly after.

When Jim walked in he started yelling "Ok, class. Seeing as the boys took an abysmal time to get changed, they can show us how to do twenty laps of the gym, now move, and move fast or it'll be twenty more."

I groaned as Ulrich and I stood up and declared a race against my roommate "Last one to finish gives away their dessert tonight!"

"You're on, scrawny." He accepted and shot off, me tailing close behind him.

On the last length Ulrich and I were leading the class, neck and neck. I looked at Aelita and she smiled at me. Distracted, I tripped and skidded across the floor as Ulrich overtook me and won the race. Everyone in the class was laughing at me, including myself and Aelita.

"_Oh, no!_" I cried to Ulrich, "_Please show mercy and let me keep my dessert." _I pleaded with him. He shook his head and laughed "No can do, Odd. Your chocolate cake is mine."

After double Gym school lessons had ended for the day. Once we had changed back into our regular clothes and left the Gym, I caught up with Aelita.

"Wait up, Aelita." I called to her. She stopped and waited for me to catch up.

"Hey, Odd. How was your trip to Gymfloor." She giggled.

"Ha ha, very funny." I replied sarcastically. She laughed and we kept on walking.

"Odd, what's a movie?" She asked. I stopped dead.

"You don't know what a movie is? Wow, Jeremie didn't tell you about anything at all, did he?" I was shocked. How much did Jeremie actually teach her? I continued "Well, a movie is a long video where there are people that act out what the movie is about. There are loads of different types of movies."

"Oh yeah, what's your favourite type of movie?"

"Horror Comedy." I stated without stopping to think for a second.

"What's that?"

"A horror comedy is where you get scared and laugh the whole time. In fact, there is going to be a new movie premiered at the movie theatre tomorrow afternoon." I paused, I was going to go to the movie, since it was a Saturday and my parents told Mr Delmas that I was allowed out of school on Saturday's when there were no classes. He agreed to this. Since Aelita was meant to be my cousin, Delmas would let her go to the movies as well. Summoning up all the courage I had, I asked.

"Aelita, do you want to come to the movies with me? The movie is called Laugh at the Blood Bath." I blushed, my face burning with both affection and embarrassment.

"Oh, Odd, I'd love to." She agreed, her face going red as well.

My stomach lit up with butterflies, this would be our first time alone together. No interruptions. At this point though, we were both right outside Jeremie's room, and he had heard the whole thing. He threw his door open and came out into the hallway, without even a greeting, he said:

"I'll go with you to the movies Aelita, Odd doesn't have to take you."

Conflictions flew across Aelita's face and I knew she couldn't choose between the both of us. She suggested "How about we all go together?" Jeremie's eyes narrowed but I agreed. Annoyed, Jeremie had no choice but to agree as well. Aelita then asked, "Do we need money to watch the movie, because I have none?"

I replied "Yes you do, but I'll pay for you." At this, Jeremie stormed back into his room and slammed the door.

Aelita looked concerned "Just ignore him." I said, feeling annoyed at Jeremie for being so mean.

_The following day..._

"You ready to go, Aelita?" I asked, knocking on her door.

"In a minute." I heard her muffled reply.

After a few seconds the door swung open and there Aelita stood, looking as beautiful as ever. She smiled at me. I had taken extra care getting ready to go out, including putting on cologne for the event.

"Hello, princess." I greeted her. She giggled as she always does; she greeted me back saying "Hello, Odd. I'm ready to go." Jeremie rounded the corner, smiling. He seemed to be in better spirits than the day before. "To the theatre!" He cried, before linking arms with Aelita, and strolling off. A rush of anger went through me. How dare he just take Aelita like that? He had no right to, whatsoever. I just don't know why I felt that way about it.

Once we reached the movies I bought Aelita, Jeremie and I some tickets. Jeremie said I didn't have to pay but I insisted. When we entered the theatre we took our seats and the advertising came on. I had bought massive popcorn and two sodas for me and Aelita to share while Jeremie just got himself lemonade.

When the movie started to play it started off funny and then it began to get scary, I jumped in my seat a lot while watching and at one point Aelita got very scared and started to hug me for comfort. I hugged her back and we both smiled. We both knew that it would upset Jeremie, but we didn't care either. When Jeremie saw us hugging, he stood up and left the theatre.

We downed the rest of our popcorn during the last ten minutes and when the movie did come to the end we cheered in our seats. We headed back for Kadic.

YPOV

I saw Odd and Aelita get back from the movie theatre from the library window and went outside to greet them. "Hey guys, enjoy your movie?"

"It was wonderful, I liked the way they could play the movie on such a big screen." Aelita smiled.

"It was good. I have to go now anyway. I want to talk to Jeremie about something important." Odd said, and left. Aelita said goodbye and left as well, not being suspicious about Odd. I was though, and so I decided to head up to Jeremie's room to see if everything was ok.

It wasn't, as soon as I reached the boys floor I heard muffled arguing. Picking up the pace, I ran to Jeremie's room and opened the door. What I saw surprised me. Jeremie and Odd were standing at opposite ends of the dorm yelling at each other.

"You should care for her, because you brought her to earth doesn't mean that she will be perfectly safe." Odd shouted.

"What do you care, Aelita knows I care for her and ensure her protection." Jeremie yelled back just as loud.

"I care more than you, Aelita wants to live and all you do is stay in here tapping your sorry little fingers on that stupid keyboard."

At this, Jeremie lunged at Odd, but I got in the way just in time to stop a huge fight breaking out. I pushed Jeremie back and held Odd.

"Stop it, both of you." I told them calmly. "You are both getting worked up over small things. Jeremie, Odd knows that you love Aelita and he wouldn't think of her like that. Aelita wants to live so you should let her." Then I turned to Odd and said "Jeremie just wants to free Aelita, allowing her to live to the full. Understand this."

"Now, both of you say sorry and shake hands. Or I'll make you." I ordered.

They did. And as they did they smiled at each other, all anger forgotten. Jeremie knew that Odd didn't like Aelita in that way. As relieved as he was though, he couldn't have been more wrong.

**Leave a review. Also, I have noticed that the chapters are getting longer. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?**


	5. Chapter 4

**Alas, chapter four begin. I don't own Code Lyoko or any characters, MoonScoop does.**

**Cat and Princess**

Chapter 4: Music

APOV

_I was walking through the forest, getting more and more scared by the minute. A sharp growl comes from behind me. I turned around to see a huge wolf, it fangs bared and its eyes red. We stare at each other for what lasts forever. I turn to run and I hear the wolf following a quick pursuit. Without looking, I fell. I turn and see the wolf, it leaps at me and I scream, knowing this was my last breath. I close my eyes..._

_Nothing. Everything went as silent as the night. Trembling, I open my eyes. The wolf was not longer there, but running back into the trees. In its place stood a figure, much too dark to distinguish. He looked at me; I looked at him and felt myself zooming back to reality. But before the world vanished, I saw the figure was a male, clad in purple and pink, with blond hair._

I opened my eyes, truly this time. The sun was shining down on my hair through the curtain and I sat up. Rubbing my eyes, I leapt out of bed, feeling elated. Without any warning, my alarm went off, making me jump.

"_Wake up girls and boys, the day is November the first and what a sunny one it is too, the time is 6:30 a.m. and today we..."_

Turning my alarm off, I thought ahead for the day's planning. The teachers were having meetings through the whole of Friday, Saturday and Sunday so there was no school at all this weekend. This was the perfect time to finish up planning for Odd's birthday on November third. I was so excited to see his reaction once we had put our plans to work.

Once I had got dressed, I went down to the cafeteria because I was starving. When there, a thought occurred to me, Odd loved eating more than most things so when I went over to Rosa to see today's food I asked her a huge favour.

"Hey Rosa, you know how Odd's birthday is on Sunday?" I asked, sounding polite as possible.

"Yes, I do. Let me guess before you ask, you want me to do him a birthday favour?" The chef said, plopping some porridge into a bowl and handing it to me.

"Yes, I do. Can you make him all of his favourite meals that he loves? If you say yes I will help you in the kitchens for two weeks." I asked with my fingers crossed.

"Of course I will, anything for my favourite customer, especially on his birthday." Rosa smiled. "But I will need help in the kitchens, only a week will do."

"Thank you so much, Rosa. You have no idea how grateful I am!" I truly was grateful; this is going to help so much for Odd's birthday. He is going to love it. When I said goodbye and turned to sit at my table, I saw Ulrich sitting alone there. He looked pretty down, so I decided to cheer him up.

"Hello, Ulrich!" I greeted him happily.

"Hey Aelita..." Ulrich said, still sounding down.

"What's the matter?"

"Huh, oh nothing."

"If it's nothing then why are you down?"

"I'm not down... well, I am."

"Why?" I asked, glad that he was getting to the point.

"Well, you see. Promise you won't tell anyone about this, but." He paused to think it over and continued "I really like Yumi, but I have no idea if she likes me back. I mean, do girls have a manual or something, how can I tell? I just want to become, well, a "thing", you know."

"I know what you mean, why don't you just ask her out, if she says yes, then you're a "thing", I have only been on Earth for an month and a half, and I already know this." I advised.

Ulrich pondered this while picking up his porridge with his spoon and letting fall back into the bowl with a _plop _sound. Once he had finished thinking, he concluded "That's really good advice, Aelita, cheers. Do you know what? I'll ask her out to the movies after Odd's party, but promise not to tell her anything about it."

"I promise, cross my heart and hope to die." I grinned. "I'm so happy for you two." Not mentioning secretly knowing that Yumi has wanted Ulrich to ask her out for a long time. I then said "Also, Rosa just agreed to make all of Odd's favourite meals for his birthday, seeing as he loves food and all."

"That's a great idea Aelita. Awesome thinking, this party is going to knock his socks off." Ulrich exclaimed, then said "Well, not knock his socks off, we want to enjoy the party with him, not be unconscious around him." sounding serious all of a sudden.

I laughed at this; we had the whole party pretty much planned out now. Jeremie and Odd were also good friends again, laughing all the time together. Yumi was party planner, getting all of Odd's arty friends to help out while Ulrich and Jeremie were planning the perfect act, so perfect that Odd wouldn't find it at all suspicious whatsoever. I had something planned for Odd as well, the music and life of the party. He would enjoy it so much and we could maybe, at the end, ki... _Don't think that Aelita._

When I left the cafeteria, saying goodbye to Ulrich since he was waiting for Yumi, a wave of excitement filled me, I felt like running instead of walking back to my dorm, so I sped off up the staircase. As I turned the corner to the girls' dorm I turned and almost ran smack bang into none other than the ever-smiling Odd. Fortunately, we didn't fall, but Odd laughed and made me start to laugh too.

After a moment, the laughing subsided and Odd said "Morning, princess."

"Hey Odd, what makes you so happy today." I replied.

"No school for three days! Woohoo!" He laughed and ran off to the cafeteria yelling bye to me.

_Later that day..._

I caught up with Yumi; I needed to ask her something very important. "Hey, Yumi." I panted, after running to talk to her.

"Yes, Aelita?" She replied, raising one eyebrow since I was doubled-over.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked, standing up straight again but still breathing hard.

"What about, Aelita?"

Without any hesitation, I questioned "How do I know if a guy likes me?"

Yumi laughed, we walked over to a shaded area of the courtyard and continued our conversation. "Well, first, if the guy likes you, then he will look at you a lot."

I nodded; lots of guys did that because of my hair colour. Yumi continued, "They also are always willing to help out, but can be really annoying at times."

This made me smile, because I knew one blond boy who did that, a _lot._

"There is a lot of things to know, but the most important are the fact that they give you nicknames and use them a lot, they smile and try to make you laugh and they also enjoy your company and interests."

This made my heart skip a beat. Only Odd did all of those things, did he really like me. I couldn't tell for sure, but he checked all of the factors Yumi listed. I was excited; I liked Odd, more than anyone else in our group. I wanted our relationship to progress to a higher level, but I don't know if he thought that about me though.

"Thanks Yumi, I needed that advice." I said.

"Why, do you think a guy likes you or something?" She replied.

"No, just need it for future references." I lied. "Thank you Yumi for the info though, seeya!"

I hated lying to Yumi, but I had to so she didn't get ideas about anything. When I was ready to tell her the truth, I would.

_November 1__st__, 11:59pm_

As I was just finishing up reading and getting into bed I heard Jim's loud footsteps trudging away. Smiling to myself, I was looking forward to a good Saturday, especially with Odd. I wasn't sure what the feelings were in my stomach. It was a good feeling, but a weird one. What was it?

My clock beeped twelve, and at the exact time a soft, beautiful melody hit my ears. It was a tune of happiness, of kindness, of love. I looked to find the source, and it was coming from outside my window. I looked down to see the lights to the music room on. The tune must be coming from, what Jeremie said it was, a piano. It was the most beautiful sounds I had heard in my life.

UPOV

At breakfast on Saturday there was a weird murmur going around the room. It was about the mysterious piano player and who people thought it was. Every girl in the school was buzzing about it, murmurs like "It was beautiful music." and "I can't wait to hear it again." was passed around the room and the dormitories. Odd and I didn't care really, I thought it was good music myself, but that was it.

Aelita came in and immediately started questioning us about the music. Every question I couldn't answer correctly, Odd was silent, still stuffing his face with food (Jam on toast). The principal came in and announced to the cafeteria "I am calling upon the mysterious piano player last night. I need to talk to you."

No-one responded, the room had gone silent, waiting for him or her to reveal themselves, but to no avail. The principal made a "humph" sound and walked out of the lunchroom. The room returned back to its normal volume, and conversation continued.

"Anyways, guys." Aelita said. "I can't wait to see who plays the music. I sure hope they do play it again." With this, she left the room, forgetting breakfast entirely.

_Later..._

All of us but Odd was gathered in Jeremie's room. We had got permission from Delmas to use the Gym for Odd's party. Jim had approved as well, being fond of Odd as a student with his good jokes. I had got the music set up for the party and invited all of his friends. Yumi had got the decoration done and dusted. Jeremie and I had finished the act and we had all rehearsed for it.

Jeremie announced "Ok guys, Odd's party is ready, distractions have been placed around the Gym so he doesn't see. Odd doesn't even suspect a thing. I think we're ready for his party!"

We all let out a cheer and hugged each other. Odd was going to have the time of his life. Now all we have to do is keep it a complete secret. Pretty much everyone in the school had been invited, so now Aelita and I were going to keep Odd as entertained as we could until tomorrow.

"Seeya, Jeremie. Seeya, Yumi." I said to them as Aelita and I left the room.

"Bye guys." They replied back.

APOV

We had kept odd entertained and unsuspecting for the most of the afternoon, mainly taking Kiwi out for a long run in the forest, after which, we sat under a tree and taking turns throwing the ball for the crazy dog. I laughed every time Kiwi skidded when missing the ball. Odd kept giving me a hypnotic smile which I couldn't stop looking at. Odd's face was so beautiful, never a single worry or negative emotion on it. I smiled back.

When we said our goodnights I decided to make Odd blush by giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and skipping off without another word.

_November 2__nd__, 11:59pm:_

I was waiting for the music to start again, I was not ready at all for bed, just sitting and waiting in my room for the beautiful melody to arise from the night. When my clock beeped twelve, the music appeared in my ears again. Sneaking out of my dorm I crept down the stairs and out into the moonlit air. The music was louder here and I could see a faint light on the other side of the courtyard. Sneaking across, I silently opened the door. It was unlocked and I pushed it open. When listening to the piano closer I could hear the song had sorrow as well as all the happiness and love in it.

Looking over, the piano was lit, but I couldn't see the face because it was blocked by the piano itself. I decided to let the song finish, hear the full serenity of it. When it did, I opened my eyes, and saw the one I had always known I would love. The one that was meant to be.

Odd.

He saw me and his face went white. He recovered and said "Do you like it?"

"It... was beautiful." I could feel tears in my eyes now. "Who is the song for?"

"It was for... for you, Aelita. I, I made it because... because..." He had walked around the piano now. He was close to me, very close. "I made it because I love you, Aelita."

I felt butterflies in my stomach, my heart in my throat, my brain going all over the place. _Odd loved me._

Without thinking, I knew instinctively what to do. He did the same thing at the same time. I placed my lips upon his, my body knowing exactly what to do, and we kissed.

"_I love you too, Odd."_


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N I have had loads of fun writing this story; thanks for all the feedback you guys. A quick heads up, this whole chapter is entirely from Odd's POV so excuse me if it's too short. :D**

**Cat and Princess:**

Chapter 5: Birthday

OPOV

I don't know what made me do it; I just knew it was the thing to do. I had been writing that piano music for Aelita ever since I realised my true feelings for her: _I loved her. _When Aelita came into the music room, I knew this was my chance to prove it to her. I told that I love her. When that happened, I don't know who started the kiss. I think we both did, at the same time. We stood there and kissed for what felt like hours, but it was only minutes.

"I love you, too." Aelita replied. "Happy birthday, Odd."

With that, she left the room, leaving me feeling like the happiest person on Earth, she loved me too. I think we both noticed that we would be together, forever. Leaving the room five minutes after her, hands in my pockets and a huge smile, I walked back to my room, waiting until tomorrow.

**sss**

_Sunday, November 3__rd__, 7:03 am_

I was being shaken awake. Blearily, I could make out the hazy figure of Ulrich. Blinking away the mist in my eyes I heard him saying "XANA's attacking. C'mon, we need to go to Lyoko."

Realising what he was shouting, I sprung out of bed, completely forgetting about the events of last night. Throwing on some clothes, Ulrich and I sprinted straight down the stairs and out towards the forest, narrowly missing Jim on the way past who shouted "No running in the corridors!" at our backs.

Climbing down the ladder into the sewer and grabbing our skateboards, we took off at high speed. Wind rushing through my hair, I felt exhilarated to start my birthday with a bit of danger and action. My stomach started rumbling, I hope we could deactivate that tower soon, I need breakfast in me quick.

**sss**

When we reached the factory I found out that Aelita and Yumi were already there waiting for us. Jeremie spoke up "The activated tower is in the forest sector, Odd and Aelita will go to Lyoko and deactivate the tower while Ulrich, Yumi and I will stay on Earth in case XANA does anything. If the Scyphazoa appears, I bring you home, ok?"

"You got it, Einstein." I said whilst smiling to myself, more time alone with Aelita was the best sort of time now, well, kind of alone if you didn't count the monsters. We took the elevator down to the scanners room and I hopped into one.

"Transfer Odd." He began, "Transfer Aelita. Scanner Odd. Scanner Aelita. Virtualization!"

My body went numb as the white light engulfed my body; I closed my eyes and opened them again to see I was on Lyoko. I landed on the virtual grass of the Forest sector to see Aelita smiling at me. Before I could open my mouth, my overboard materialized in front of myself, Jeremie seemed to be focused today.

"Let's go" Aelita whispered to me, and we hopped onto my overboard. Unconsciously, I wrapped my tail around Aelita's waist and she giggled and held onto mine. If I could blush, I would be burning red as we zoomed off to the tower.

When we turned the corner to the tower, I saw something was up. There was no red glow surrounding it and no monsters in sight. We moved closer to check it out.

"Hey Jeremie, something's up with this tower here." I spoke to the air.

"I've noticed. It seemed to have deactivated all by itself. This doesn't seem right guys, I'm bringing you in. Aelita, go into the tower and I'll run Code: Earth." Jeremie said over the intercom, sounding concerned.

After a few minutes from when Aelita went into the tower I felt myself starting to be devirtualized. This trip hadn't been worth anything, and I was hungry _and _tired. On my birthday as well, secretly, I wanted some monsters to fight.

I opened my eyes to the greeting of the scanner doors which opened shortly afterwards. Nobody was in the room. This made me feel slightly sad on the inside because not even Aelita greeted me. Shrugging the negative thoughts off, I walked out of the room and into the elevator. On the way up to the interface room I thought of Aelita and the kiss we shared the previous night. I knew there would be secrets to be kept, and it would be complicated to do so, but I hope we will work through them.

**sss**

When the elevator door opened, I was shocked by confetti being thrown over me and loud cheers of "Happy Birthday, Odd!" My four greatest friends were all wearing ridiculous party hats and smiling at me. They had thrown a surprise party for me. My heart glowed with happiness towards all my friends.

"But... What about the activated tower? What about XANA?" I questioned.

"That was an act so we could set up the celebration." Yumi replied. "It was Ulrich and Jeremie's idea."

"Yeah, today is doing everything you love. Starting with Lyoko and ending with the party of a lifetime." Ulrich added.

"Tonight, the whole school has come to celebrate your fourteenth birthday at the Gym for the ultimate party. _Even Sissy _wanted to help out!" Jeremie chipped in.

"We knew how happy it would make you. That's why we did it; today, we are doing everything you want, including Rosa making your all time favourite meals." Aelita finalised for the group.

I couldn't have been more overjoyed with the current situation. Despite the fact that I was pulled out of bed before eight, I couldn't have been happier. I broke into a huge smile, which was returned by the four greatest people I could meet. I couldn't think of words to say, and ended up standing there with a shocked expression with my mouth half open.

"Obviously you don't know where to start. So, how about some presents?" Ulrich laughed.

"You, you got me presents?" I asked, surprised even more. They had spent so much time on making this such a great party that it was beginning to get unbelievable.

"Well, duh. That's what you do on birthdays." Jeremie said and handed me a small box wrapped in paper with pictures of dogs. At the same time Ulrich handed me a larger present and Aelita and Yumi gave me a small one.

I was shocked that my friends had even gone to the extent of buying me presents, let alone making this the perfect day for me. Without thought, my childish instinct grabbed me and I sat down and started ripping the wrapping apart.

Ulrich had got me a brand new skateboard from the latest series, the ZX3's. The design on the bottom was customised, spotted with pictures of Kiwi and sporting a pink and purple background. From Jeremie a brand new camera for my short films and Aelita and Yumi had got me a "Cutting edge, state-of-the-art" satellite phone for me. What's more, Jeremie had said that by boosting the supercomputers radio waves, he had made it that the phone had international and permanent free calling on it. The brainiac had done it to the rest of the gang's phones as well: "Just in case..." as he put it.

I couldn't hold in my joy any longer, standing up, I brought Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich and Jeremie into a huge hug and we laughed all the while. When we broke apart, I quickly whispered into Aelita's ear _"Wait behind..." _and walked over to the elevator, brandishing my new gear, with my friends.

As we left the factory I told my friends that I would stay up on the bridge for a little while as to check the wheels on my new board to see if they were tight enough yet. Aelita, catching onto the plan, said she would stay with me. The three heading down the sewers didn't mind, and they left us to ourselves.

"Heyo, birthday boy, what's up?" Aelita kicked off the conversation.

"Well, Aelita, about last night. About us." I replied nervously and added "Are we going to be a "thing" then?"

It was awkward, Aelita stood still, pondering my question and eventually replied "I guess we are, but we need to keep it a secret. We are supposed to be cousins, remember."

My heart started to beat fast, _we were a thing_. I was happy as could be before, but this topped it all. Keeping as calm as I could, I agreed by nodding to Aelita's terms. Then, without a second thought, I walked straight up to Aelita and we kissed again. My arms were around her waist and hers around my shoulders. We stood there a few more seconds, before simultaneously breaking apart.

"We best get back to the school" I whispered into her ear. I wish we didn't, I wish we could have stayed here for as long as we could, and I could see that Aelita wanted the same thing. We decided to walk through the sewers back to Kadic, holding hands all the way.

**sss**

I was having the most amazing day back at the school; everyone was wishing me a happy birthday and patting me on the back. I was on my toes for the party later that evening but nobody was giving me a single spoiler to it whatsoever. Ulrich suggested that he and I should go down to the mini-golf course to pass the time. I agreed, asking how much a pass was but Ulrich refused to let me pay.

"It's your birthday; you shouldn't spend a single penny. I won't let you." He asserted.

When we had got our clubs and moved to the first hole I felt in a confident, winning mood. Ulrich always beat me at mini-golf, but today I wouldn't let him. This attitude paid off because I scored birdies and pars throughout the whole first half of the course. On the last half, my game dropped but I fortunately just scraped a win. We walked back to Kadic, me bragging the whole time.

As we reached the academy gate the sun dipped behind the horizon. No sooner as it did Ulrich said "Ready for the party." My excitement peaking, my roommate led me into the Gymnasium.

It was crazy, coloured lights were flashing and what looked like the whole school, excepting the teachers, was there. They all turned to look at me, cheered a huge _"Happy Birthday" _and the party commenced. Epic music, sweet party food and awesome lighting effects surrounded me as I began to take it all in. Everywhere I looked people were laughing and dancing and enjoying themselves.

Ulrich led me over to the others members of our gang and we danced and laughed and sang along to all the song in our own reserved corner of the Gym. We burst out laughing as we saw Jim come into his "precious sanctuary" and instead of getting angry, started to dance himself, quickly becoming the centre of attention.

**sss**

After three hours the party ended and the school students slowly filtered out of the room talking happily amongst themselves. Jim said as a favour to the gang he would clear up the decorations seeing as he too joined in on the fun. We thanked him and left the Gym ourselves, all elated from the nights events. Jeremie seemed especially as though he had fun since he generally didn't venture from his dorm much. Ulrich and Yumi definitely had a good time, as they were holding hands for the majority of the evening.

"Goodnight guys. Happy birthday once again Odd." Yumi said as she and Ulrich wandered off down the path to the entrance gates.

"I wonder what they are going to be up to." I said sarcastically as the pair walked off. Jeremie laughed and wished Aelita and myself a goodnight as well. As his footsteps died down Aelita turned to face me.

We interlaced our fingers as we stared dreamily into each other's eyes. I then interrupted the silence by saying "We have to tell Ulrich and Yumi about us."

Aelita smiled back at me "We will, tomorrow. When we are ready, we will tell Jeremie as well."

The conversation ended at that. To end the night, I pulled Aelita into me and we kissed for the third time in a day. Aelita's fingers locked themselves in my hair, and my arms were around her waist. We stayed like this for a while, knowing that we couldn't stop. I breathed in her soft, calm scent which had suttle hints of sugar and cherries. We stayed in that position for minutes but eventually though, the night had to end and we broke apart.

Aelita said "I love you." and I replied with an "I love you, too."

We both walked up the stairs and as we reached my floor I gave Aelita one more quick kiss before saying goodnight.

**End A/N: Ok, so this chapter is probably my favourite so far. Just saying I will probably update maybe twice a week from now on because the chapters are quite long by my standards. Please leave a review to tell me what you think of it, thanks to all those who have been with me so far. More to come! -BL**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N Heyo, BreadLoaf here with a new chapter! Hope you enjoy, thanks to all those who have been reviewing the last chapters, and thanks to the one person who is beta-reading this story, you know who you are XD On with the chapter:**

**Cat and Princess**

Chapter 6: Privacy

_November 3__rd__11:37 pm_

UPOV

It felt like Yumi and I got along well at Odd's party, especially because we were holding hands by the end of it. When the party had ended and us five left the Gym, Yumi and I said goodbye and walked towards the gates. I offered to walk her home and she accepted. As we trudged down the lamp lit streets towards her home, I remembered what I had said to Aelita yesterday at breakfast and a wave of nervousness hit me. Do I dare ask Yumi out? Did she have the same feelings for me? I couldn't tell so I decided to bring on twenty seconds of courage and ask anyways.

After a few minutes, we reached Yumi's home and turned to face each other, still holding hands. "I had a really good time tonight, Ulrich, especially with you." Yumi said and butterflies whizzed around my stomach.

I swallowed, this was my chance. If she said yes all my nerves would shatter. If she said no I would be heartbroken. There was a 50% chance either way and I didn't want to make it a 0% chance. Stammering, I asked "Yumi, I don't... don't know if you want to or not but will... do you want to go to the movies sometime..." I paused, searching for a reaction from her beautiful face. Not seeing one, I continued: "You know, as like... a date or something?"

It was awkward to say the least, Yumi didn't respond for a few seconds. I could almost hear the thought processes whirring around her brain. Eventually, as though my prayers had been answered, Yumi broke into a huge smile and answered "Oh Ulrich, I would love to."

My heart skipped a beat, _Yumi said yes_. Yumi Ishiyama was going on a date, _with me, Ulrich Stern_! In a small attempt to not look like a gawping statue, I replied "Really? That's amazing. To be honest, Yumi, I thought you would say no."

"Ulrich..." Yumi laughed exasperatedly "I've been wanting you to ask me out for ages."

"Wow, well... yeah." I said, trying to think of a good response, but coming up short. I had to end the night before anything bad began to happen "So err, goodnight, Yumi."

"Yeah, I guess, goodnight. See you tomorrow."

Yumi walked through the gates to her home, leaving me. As Yumi got to the front door, she turned, and waved her fingers. I smiled and waved back. Putting my hands in my pockets, I walked back to Kadic, a huge smile plastered to my face that I couldn't be rid of. Checking my phone for the time, I saw how late it was and started to jog back to the school. After all, I didn't want to be caught going to bed late.

As I walked back through the Kadic gates and to the dorm room, I walked past the Gym and stopped suddenly. I had noticed something in the corner of my eye. A silhouette from behind the backlit Gym, one that I could half recognize: One figure stood with hair in a spike, I obviously deduced that to be Odd. What struck me as bemusing was the fact that Odd was kissing someone; I couldn't see who it was and out of the goodness of my heart, I kept their privacy. But what was strange was the figure he was kissing had a familiar shadow, a very familiar shadow. I couldn't think who it was, but it was someone I have seen very often. Letting it slip out of my mind, I waited for Odd and his girlfriend to finish and leave to their rooms before I walked up myself.

I walked up the stairs onto our floor, and as I walked into my room, I saw Odd was lying on his bed, staring at the roof. "Have a good night, dude?"

"It was a fantastic night, thanks Ulrich." Odd rolled over and went straight off to sleep.

I quietly chuckled to myself; Odd would be going on about his dreamy new girlfriend tomorrow. I changed into my pyjamas and went to bed myself.

**sss**

APOV

_Monday, November 4__th__, 7:00am_

I woke up, my mind filled with doubt. I loved Odd, but now that we were boyfriend and girlfriend I thought that it might annoy the rest of the group if we spent too much time together. I wanted to keep Odd's and my relationship quiet, for a least a few more days. Gathering myself, I hopped out of bed, quickly grabbing a towel and rushing to the bathrooms before Sissi got in there. I would tell Odd at breakfast before class about it, I just hoped he would understand.

After having got myself ready for the day, I began to head down to breakfast and, in the second time in a week, walked right into Odd.

"We really need to look where we are going, don't we princess." Odd greeted.

"You're right. We do." I replied, smiling at him, "Hey Odd, can we keep the boyfriend and girlfriend stuff secret for a little while longer? It's just that I don't feel comfortable telling Ulrich and Yumi just yet."

I waited as he searched my face for a few seconds to see if I was being serious. After coming to a conclusion, Odd responded "If you aren't ready to make our relationship public yet, then I'm completely fine with it princess."

"Thank you." I replied.

Odd quickly looked up and down the stairway to see if anyone was coming, when he saw that nobody was there, he planted a quick kiss on my lips, making me blush. Odd laughed and offered "Care to dine with me for an exquisite breakfast, m'lady?"

"I would be delighted."

**sss**

As we walked into our first class of the day, science, I saw Jeremie already seated and looked at me expectantly, silently asking for me to join him in the chair besides the one which he was seated. Feeling guilty though, I sat next to Odd in the desk in front of me. I turned around to greet my bespectacled friend, but I saw he was already looking rather sad, so I decided to avoid a conversation now, but I'd sit next to Jeremie later.

As soon as Mrs Hertz walked into the classroom, we all quietened down, not wanting to get into trouble. The teacher put the books she was carrying down on the desk then faced us.

"Alright class, take out your textbooks and turn to page 394. You will read the page and then answers all of the questions on page 396. Those who don't will come back here at lunch to finish them."

The classroom groaned.

**sss**

When double science had finished Odd, Ulrich, Jeremie and I met up with Yumi outside the cafeteria. As we walked into the cafeteria I saw that Jeremie was in a good mood about something, I didn't know what it was so I decided to ask him.

"What's got you so happy, Jeremie?"

"Huh, Aelita? Oh, it's nothing important, something involving a new program I made, that's all."

With that, Jeremie walked off to grab some lunch, leaving us four to an awkward silence. We looked at each other then shrugged and followed our bespectacled friend to our "reserved" table. While eating lunch, there was a strange, eerie silence amongst our group, nobody speaking to one another, all deeply immersed in thought. Odd kept staring across the table, making me blush and look away every time we made eye contact. Eventually though, we had to stop the minor flirting because Ulrich saw us and raised an eyebrow at Odd, who quickly returned to his soup.

Once we had all finished our soup and were ready to go to our next classes, Maths and English, I quickly pulled Odd aside to tell him something before the bells signalled our lunch was over.

"Hey Odd, do you mind if I sit next to Jeremie for the next few periods." I smiled innocently.

"Why, princess?" My boyfriend replied curiously.

"Because of Jeremie, he seemed really sad when I didn't sit next to him in Science, and I don't want him to get suspicious about, well, us."

"Fair point princess. Nah, I don't mind too much, just no flirting." Odd stated, sounding slightly more serious at the last part of his sentence.

"You know I won't, _scrawny_."

"_I am not SCRAWNY!"_

I laughed just as the bell rang, and we walked over the courtyard and into the Maths class, saying bye to Yumi as we did. When we walked in, I smiled at Jeremie and sat next to him. He gave me a small wink from under his glasses, which I returned half-heartedly. The teacher walked in and, similar to science, we all fell silent immediately except for Sissi, who was saying how Maths was stupid, because "you didn't need to know numbers to be a supermodel!"

The teacher cleared her throat, Sissi looked aghast as she hurriedly dropped herself into her chair and grinning guiltily at the disapproving Maths tutor.

"You know Sissi, maths is very important. So important that I think that you should receive extra homework tonight so we both agree with each other, don't you think class?"

We all, except Nicholas and Herve, half-shouted our agreements of yes as Sissi made a half-moan, half-annoyed sound similar to a snorting pig. I giggled after Odd joked "Don't worry Sissi; just grow yourself a tail and you'll become a perfect pig, right down to the IQ level." Finishing off with his trademark laugh.

**sss**

When the lessons of the day had concluded, with the English teacher lecturing us about debating and the class half dying from boredom because of it, we left the classroom and looked up towards the sun, breathing in fresh, clean air. Our peace was broken when Jeremie announced that he was going off to his room to work on a new program to speed up our devirtualization. He offered for me to join him, but I declined, rather to spend some time outside than in another, enclosed room. Jeremie shrugged and walked off.

"Hey Odd, Aelita. Yumi and I are going to go chill out in the forest for a while, care to join us." Ulrich offered. I looked at Odd then back at Ulrich and agreed.

We waited for a minute for Yumi to arrive from her last lesson and we set off, into the trees. Once coming to a clearing, we all sat down, me next to Odd, and Ulrich next to Yumi, our backs resting on a felled tree trunk. We all just listened to the sound of the breeze rustling through the trees and the chirps of birds.

Ulrich turned to face us and said to Odd and I quietly "So, I decided to ask Yumi out, she said yes."

Making me jump, Odd shouted "You and Yumi are going out, that's great!" Ignoring the sudden glares from Ulrich and Yumi, he continued "So are you boyfriend and girlfriend? Have you kissed yet?!"

Odd suddenly let out a cry of pain as both Ulrich and Yumi punched on the arm. Odd laughed and received another punch from Ulrich, stopping him, instantly. We all stared at one another for a few more seconds before all bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

When our sense of humour died down, Odd reminisced "You know, this reminds of a time when me and my sisters all went out to the forest by our house and played hide-and-seek."

Curious to what Odd what talking about, I inquired "Hide-and-seek? What's hide-and-seek?" Odd stared at me for a moment, surprised. "You don't know what hide-and-seek is?!"

"No, I don't. Is it a game or something?"

Ulrich cut in before Odd could complain about my lack of knowledge any more "Hide and Seek is a game where there is one person, called the seeker who looks for the hiders. The seeker gives the other players some time to hide then goes looking for them. When he or she finds someone, that found person becomes the seeker and the game continues until you get bored of playing." He explained to me.

Wanting to play, I said "Can we play a game, then?"

"Sure, let's play." Yumi declared.

"Ulrich's in!" Odd shouted, "Twenty seconds to hide!"

We jumped up from our tree stump and bolted from the clearing as Ulrich commenced counting. When finding a place to hide, I leapt behind some bushes and crouched down into a squatting position.

Out of nowhere, Odd turned up a jumped into the bushes, crashing into me. We rolled over and down a small hill into a small area. Odd ending up on top of me.

"Why do we end up like this all the time?" Odd said, rolling sideways and landing parallel to me. I turned my head to face him and answered "Because you are always saving my life from being devirtualized on Lyoko."

"I guess you're right, princess."

We stared into each other's eyes, I began to blush. Without warning, a breeze whispered past us, making me aware to the cold. I shivered, Odd moved closer to me to preserve the warmth. Still looking into the other's eyes we moved our heads closer to one another and met at the lips.

Suddenly, I heard a gasp from up the small hill and Odd and I quickly sat up to see we were facing none other, than Ulrich and Yumi.

"What were you doing?!"

**sss**

**A/N Cliffhangers! I hoped you like this chapter, slightly less fluff than last but hopefully good all the same. Please Rate and Review, I'll wait for a few and then upload the next chapter. I will also do a review response for next chapter so ask me a question! Thanks to all of those who have been with me so far.**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N Sorry this chapter took so long to come out, it was my sister's birthday this week so I spent the time with her rather than my computer. It was her party two days later, leaving me in my room massaging my temples. I mean, honestly, how can people yell so loudly. Enjoy the chapter.**

**Cat and Princess**

Chapter 7: Confession of love

YPOV

"What were you doing!?"

"Ummm, err..."

"Why were you kissing each other!?"

"Well, it's..."

"It's what? Don't say complicated because it's obviously not, you and Aelita were kissing!"

Unanswered questions from Ulrich and I were being shot repeatedly at the red-faced duo who were looking scared. My eyes flicked between Odd and Aelita, hoping I would get at least a short response from either of the pair, but none came. I couldn't believe what I had just saw, Ulrich had found me hiding up a tree, I came down to help him look for the other two players to find them down a small hill, _kissing_.

Noticing that small tears were forming in Aelita's eyes, I stopped interrogating her and simply sat down, giving Ulrich a nudge for him to do the same. He also ceased talking and joined me on the ground. We waited a minute before a response was murmured from Aelita's lips.

"We... we were kissing."

My heart skipped a beat, despite the fact that Aelita had stated the obvious; I was shocked at how she had openly admitted it. With a calmer voice than before, I asked to both of them "Why were you kissing?"

Another silence. "Well?" Ulrich demanded. I could almost feel his confusion; his roommate was kissing the girl who everyone thought loved Jeremie. But instead she was kissing the comedian who never kept a girlfriend for longer than a week.

"We kissed because..." Odd glanced at Aelita, "... we love each other."

**sss**

We were back in the clearing where we had started to play hide and seek. The sun had only minutes before it dipped into the horizon. I still hadn't fully come to terms with Odd and Aelita _loving _each other. Yet, for some strange reason, I felt less surprised than I should have. They were sitting with their backs resting on the same log from earlier that day and Ulrich and I were facing them.

"So, how long have you been together?" Ulrich questioned.

Odd was about to open his mouth, but double-checked himself and closed it again; Aelita spoke on the behalf of them both.

"Since Saturday." The pinkette simply stated.

That definitely wasn't a surprise. Knowing Odd can't keep girlfriends for long, such a short time of them being together couldn't be argued with. I had to mull over everything Odd and Aelita had told us about them so far. They had been kind of going out once before then, to a movie, but had been interrupted by Jeremie. Aelita had been having a small crush on Odd and his antics ever since she had been materialized for the first time. Odd had also been crushing on Aelita, but had mistaken that to the feeling that he had to protect her. It wasn't until very recently though that he had truly recognized those feelings.

Odd and Aelita being a couple felt wrong to me, I always thought Aelita loved Jeremie, not Odd, but when I asked her about it, she said that they had loads in common and that she once did have a thing for him. But eventually, Jeremie got distant and cold and Aelita started taking a small liking to Odd which eventually grew to the point where they started the relationship.

"So then, what actually started up your relationship?" I tentatively questioned, hoping not to get too personal.

It was Odd who answered "You know that person who was playing the piano in the middle of the night?"

"Yeah?" Ulrich and I replied in unison.

"Well..." Odd gulped, blushing, "I wrote that piano piece for Aelita when I realised I actually had a crush on her. As cliché as it sounds, it's what I knew she would like." Aelita nodded her agreement.

I thought that was the sweetest thing someone could do. Odd didn't just play the tune for kudos from the principal, but for his _dream-girl_. I made an "Aaaaaahh" sound which received snickers from Ulrich.

"Can we ask you a question now, guys?" Aelita asked.

"Whatever you want, Aelita, shoot." Ulrich said.

"Can you guys keep Odd's and my relationship quiet from, like, everybody? Because, as Jeremie keeps reminding us, we are actually supposed to be cousins."

This request left us taken aback. We could keep it a secret, but if they kept flirting or kissing like this in public, people would eventually notice.

I thought their whole relationship status over. _Aelita is new to Earth; she has lots to learn but has to constantly help Jeremie with her antivirus. It's obvious that she wants to learn new things but Jeremie never had time for her. Ulrich and I occasionally teach Aelita about everything our world has to offer, but it is Odd who teaches her the most. Odd is adventurous and a daredevil, Aelita wants to learn everything she can about being a human, the best way is through adventure. They have loads in common, the question is if they actually _like _each other or not._

I had reached my conclusion, the more I thought about Odd and Aelita being boyfriend and girlfriend, the more it made sense. Bringing myself back from my thoughts into the forest blanketed by the last rays of the sun, Ulrich and I both looked at Odd and Aelita, and said:

"Your secret is safe with us."

Aelita gasped "Thank you, guys. Thanks so much. Promise you won't tell anyone, especially Jeremie."

"It's ok, we promise." I nodded exasperatedly.

Aelita squealed and Odd's trademark smile flew onto his face. Through the entire conversation he had kept quite quiet. But now, "You guys are _awesome!_" He yelled.

I looked over at Ulrich and saw he had a knowing smile on his face. I don't know why, but that expression really annoyed me. There was one thing that popped to mind which I knew for sure would wipe that smile off of his face. I moved up onto my knees, and kissed the green-clad German on his cheek.

Ulrich's let out a gasp of shock as he looked at me, mortified. Aelita and Odd had gone deathly silent as well. I grinned as I was his face go redder and redder until he resembled the colour of beetroot. We all just sat there, staring into one another until the silence was broken by none other than Odd's raucous laughter.

I suddenly realised that Odd was laughing at both of us and glared at him. Ulrich regained his senses and mimicked my actions as well. This did not stop the Italian boy though; he continued to laugh then began to sing the infamous tune "Ulrich and Yumi sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Odd began to sing it again but it had become worse since Aelita joined in as well. "Ulrich and Yumi sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage and then comes Ulrich with a baby carriage!" Aelita had obviously learnt the lyrics for the song from Odd's teasing of other students and their boy or girlfriends.

Ulrich and I began to get to our feet, our rage boiling over. We watched as their faces went from laughter to confusion and then to horror as they realised what was coming but was too late. Ulrich and I charged at them and tackled the now terrified couple. We nearly all face planted into the ground which spewed up a cloud of dirt and grime which, in turn, coated our skin and clothing.

"Sing that song again and you will pay." Ulrich growled before we all broke into major hysterics for the second time that day.

**sss**

JPOV

I was making headway into Aelita's antivirus. I had defragmented the incorrect components from a copy of the virus and was halfway through finding out how they worked. There was always that odd string of code that popped up on the rare occasion. I had seen it before, but couldn't remember where. Pushing my glasses back to their designated position, I moved onto the next set of components and continued in peace.

_ 341 = 1( );_

_ = dnaSample + ( );_

Those two lines of code were fairly straightforward. Obviously XANA had replaced a vital part of Aelita's code that needed to be retrieved. I made a mental reminder to send the rest of the Lyoko Warriors to Sector 5 to gather some extra data on that. This was vital to Aelita's separation from XANA.

My eyes unfocused as my mind drifted off to Aelita. How she was always eager for a new day, kind, thoughtful and appreciative of others. I loved the way she smiled at me in the mornings, the way her pink hair glows with tinges of gold as the sun sets...

A sharp beeping brought me harshly back to reality. I refocused onto my monitor to be greeted with the coordinates, status and situation of an activated tower in the desert sector. Flipping open my phone, I dialled Aelita's cellphone, after a few buzz sounds I heard her sweet voice drift through the speaker, "Yes, Jeremie?"

"Aelita, activated tower in the desert sector, I'll meet you at the factory." I told her hastily.

"Ok, Jeremie, By..."

At this point I had hung up and sprinted out of my room, checking for Jim all the while. Almost throwing myself down the stairs, I flew out of the doors and reached the manhole at the same time the rest of the group did.

"Hey, guys. No time to chat, best stop XANA before he even starts." Words flew out of my mouth as if I had drunk a triple-shot coffee. Ulrich pulled off the manhole cover and we all climbed down it. Yumi first, then Ulrich; Odd bowed out of the way to allow Aelita to climb into the sewers and was responded by a giggle and a thank you.

**sss**

When we all reached the factory and travelled down the elevator I leapt into my chair and told the others to head down to the scanner room to which they consented without question.

"Ok, Ulrich and Odd first. Hurry up you two." I said via the P.A. Through my headphones, I heard somebody that sounded an awful lot like Aelita, sigh. Ignoring it, I started up the virtualization program.

"Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Odd. Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Odd. _Virtualization!_"

No sooner had I finished sending Odd and Ulrich to Lyoko I began the remaining girls virtualization. A few moments later they landed gracefully next to Ulrich and Odd.

"Tower dead ahead of you, I'll bring up your vehicles." I declared and ran a few more programs.

After a minute of watching intensely at the monitor I saw the four had reached the tower and, to my surprise, without a monster in sight. I watched Aelita enter the tower in spite of this and no sooner as she did multiple command windows began popping up on my screen, deletion programs.

I panicked and began rapidly typing away to prevent any damage. I heard Aelita say tower deactivated yet the programs would not close. But then, 32 seconds after they started, they stopped and exited themselves. Then, the unthinkable happened. I watched as Ulrich and Yumi were devirtualized. Yet I noticed my Code: EARTH program and Odd's devirtualization program had left the supercomputer without any other trace. I felt a wave of nausea as I realised that I had thrown out the CD that held Code: EARTH on it.

"Jeremie, what's wrong?" Aelita inquired, with a sound of worry in her voice.

"Yeah Einstein, what's up? Where did Ulrich and Yumi go?"

"Ul... Ulrich and Yumi are fine." I stammered, "Bu... But you... you're not."

"What do you mean?" Aelita exclaimed with the sound of worry in her voice prominent now.

"Your devirtualization programs have been deleted. It was XANA's attack." I explained, my conscious filled with guilt. "You're stranded on Lyoko!"

"What?!" I heard Ulrich voice from behind me.

"XANA's attack was to delete some of my programs, and it's not long until my communication with Aelita and Odd goes as well." I said sadly.

"So, Jeremie, what do we do?" Odd asked.

"Well, Odd, go into the tower." I ordered.

"Sir, yes sir! Now what?"

"Stand in the middle of the platform."

"Ok, done that. What are you going to do, Jeremie?" The catboy inquired.

I explained to Odd "I am going to take some resources from outdated programs and upgrade you."

"Cool!" Odd exclaimed, grinning as Aelita floating down next to him.

"Ok, don't move." I instructed and launched the program.

Odd was lifted up into the air where the tower's data panels surrounded him. After a few moments of intent watching from Ulrich, Yumi and I, Odd descended back onto the platform.

"Err, Einstein. I don't look any different." Odd said to me.

"That's because you're not supposed to, but you now have unlimited laser arrows that deal more damage, and both yours and Aelita's maximum life points have both gone up to 125." I explained once again.

"_Awesome!_" Odd yelled happily.

"Odd, Aelita, the communication is about to cut out between us. Stay sa..." And with that, my connection crackled out, leaving two people stranded on Lyoko.

"What do we do now, Jeremie?" Yumi asked.

"For now, nothing. I'll get to work on fixing up all the programs tomorrow." I said, sounding depressed. I walked all the way back to my dorm room, falling onto my bed, knowing I had failed Odd and Aelita.

END

**A/N Thanks for reading. Leave reviews, I've decided to postpone the Q&A to chapter 10. Thanks for reading.**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N Ok, this story will continue here. This is because I made a bet with my sister that if any one of my stories were to reach 5,000 views then she'd give me something nice! It's also because people might not know about this chapter intending to be the sequel of the story and stuff.  
One other thing, with this story I have a really nice plan set out for the following few chapters. The story is going to become less "romancy" for a while and a bit more adventure/angsty. You'll understand...**

**JPOV**

"Please work, please work..."

The computer made an error sound. "GOD DAMMIT!"

I stood up and whacked my desk, extremely frustrated. At this rate, I was never going to re-establish voice communications with Lyoko. I didn't know what I was doing wrong, either. Without warning, my phone went off and I checked it.

_POLICE LOOKING 4 U, GET TO CAFETERIA NOW –U_

My stomach dropped and my heart started beating very fast. I ran to the door, threw it open and sprinted downstairs, slamming the door behind me. I stopped running as soon as I left the dorm block. One reason was because I had tired myself out, and the other was because Jim and a cop were coming my way and I didn't want to look suspicious.

"Belpois, what were you doing?" Jim yelled at me once he and the police officer reached me. "My glasses broke and I went to my room to go and get my spares." I lied. Jim's softened a bit after that but the officer had a look on his face which clearly stated that he knew that wasn't the only reason.

"Ok, then Belpois. We have a few questions to ask you about the disappearance of Odd Della Robbia and Aelita Stones last month." The officer stated. "Firstly, have you been in contact with either one of them since their disappearance?"

"No, I haven't sir." I said, this time it was the truth. I hadn't actually made contact with either of them since they were stranded on Lyoko. The officer nodded and scribbled something in his notepad. He looked back up at me "Secondly, do you know where they may have disappeared to? Even the slightest bit of information is vital to find them."

I certainly knew where they had vanished to, but I wasn't going to tell the officer that. "No, sir. I have no idea where they went to."

Again, he scribbled something in his notepad. "Thirdly and finally, do you know if Della Robbia and Stones have made any possible enemies over the past few years?"

I could only think of one, and that was XANA. "No, sir." I repeated before adding "Unless you can count Sissi as an enemy."

"Belpois, now is not the time for joking around!" Jim yelled at me.

"Sorry Jim."

Once the officer had closed his notepad and put it back in his pocket he said one last thing before leaving "If you come across any information about their whereabouts, you must tell us. It's the only way to help us continue to find them."

"I will." I said before making my own way to the cafe, well aware of Jim glaring at my back.

Once I had gotten my lunch and sat down next to Ulrich and Yumi, they leant in to start questioning me.

"What did they want?" Yumi asked.

"Just to ask me some questions they have asked a million times before." I answered.

"Have you made any progress on fixing the comms with Lyoko?" Ulrich asked this time.

"None. I don't get it, there seems to be no reason why I can't talk to Odd and Aelita anymore."

"Do you think we could help?"

"No, unless you know how to reconnect a virtual world with Earth by reattaching the internal matrix by either reconfiguring the connection routers or by taking the risk and heading into Lyoko yourself."

Ulrich looked stunned while Yumi answered "Then no, we can't help."

Yumi began to stare at the ground and I saw tears start to form in her eyes. Ulrich put his arm around her in an attempt to comfort her. Yumi then looked up at me and sobbed "Please Jeremie, bring them back. It's been a month now and I really miss them, both of them."

I was filled with guilt at not bringing Odd and Aelita back home yet, I was trying as hard as I could but it seems as if XANA had completely severed any connection to Lyoko except for me being able to view Odd and Aelita's life points. It was fortunate that XANA hadn't activated any towers during this time but I'm guessing he is planning a big attack soon.

"Yumi, I'm trying as hard as I can, but unless XANA connects us back to Lyoko then I can't help you." I said.

Ulrich glared at me "Well, try harder or I swear I will..."

Ulrich stopped, realising what he was saying. "I'm sorry Jeremie. I didn't mean to snap at you like that it's just..."

I finished his sentence before he could "It's just that you miss them. I know, I miss them too. I can't really fix anything for now until I get some more ideas."

We all stood up from the table, and left the cafeteria with twenty pairs of eyes watching us. We hadn't touched our food at all. After all going up to Ulrich's room we walked in and sat down. No-one had sat on Odd's bed since he had vanished. Kiwi hopped up onto Yumi's lap who started stroking him. No-one spoke for five minutes. Then, a minute before the bell began to ring, signalling our afternoon classes, my laptop went off. Ulrich and Yumi both crowded around me as I pulled it out of my bag and opened it up.

XANA had activated a tower. That was the bad news; the good news was that the connection to Lyoko had been re-established.

"Get to the factory, now!" I commanded and we all ran, not stopping for anyone.

**A/N Ok, CHAPTER UPDATE. WOO! Thanks for 2,500 views on this story so far. As a little present, here is a small rhyme!**

**Leave a review or I will smite you!**

**BreadLoaf**


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